Judge: MP3 site, ISP breached copyright

Found on ZD Net on Wednesday, 13 July 2005
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Stephen Cooper, operator of the mp3s4free Web site, was found guilty of copyright infringement by Federal Court Justice Brian Tamberlin.

Although Cooper didn't host pirated recordings per se, the court found he breached the law by creating hyperlinks to sites that had infringing sound recordings.

Tamberlin found against all other respondents in the case, namely ISP Comcen, its employee Chris Takoushis, Comcen's parent company E-Talk Communications, and its director Liam Bal.

Outside the Sydney court, Music Industry Piracy Investigations general manager Michael Kerin said the verdict sent a strong message to ISPs.

"The verdict showed that employees of ISPs who engage in piracy can be seen in the eyes of the court as guilty," Kerin said.

Cooper was not present in court. His legal counsel, Bev Stevens, said the verdict was "extremely disappointing".

Sue admins of mp3 sites. Sue admins of sites linking to mp3 sites. Sue admins of sites linking to sites linking to mp3 sites. Continue. What does the judge expect? That every ISP hires a ton of people to monitor websites for illegal content? Not to mention the doubtful decision about linking, which is, im my opinion, ridiculous.